Vehicle hauling elevator



Oct. 20, 1953 R. D. FlLslNGx-:R E'AL V2,656,034

VEHICLE HAULING ELEvAToR 4 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Jan. 14, 1952 Oct. 20,1953 R. D. FlLslNc-:ER ET AL 2,656,034

VEHICLE HAULING ELEvAToR Filed Jan. 14, 1952 4 shets-sheet 5 R'aymond 0.F ilsnger Dean L. Filsinger INVENToRs.

Oct. 20, 1953 R. FlLslNGER ETA-1 2,656,034

VEHICLE HAL'ILING ELEVATOR Filed Jan. 14, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.8130 A n llk "F "f lgs E30 l' MyW/) Am Fig'lo la a /6 76 u2 ll f l .'l'"I 'l u l ,go-I l( RaymondD. Filsinger 'I I Dean L. Filsinger ll8 I, lINVENToRs. Il 'hl la? BY Patented Oct. 20, 1953 UNITED STATS VEHICLEHAULING ELEVATOR Raymond D. Filsinger and Dean L. Filsnger, Clearwater,Nebr.

Application January'll, 1952, Serial No. 266,338

Claims.

This invention relates to a folding elevator and particularly to anelevator to be mounted on the rear end of a tractor or other vehicle fordelivering material from the Vehicle to another oontainer.

In the hauling and handling of farm produce particularly grain and thelike it is Very desirable to have means for transferring the producefrom the field wagons to bins, freight cars or other containers. Thepresent invention provides an elevator to be mounted on a field truck or`any type of vehicle and having means to drive the same from thetake-off such as the power take-off of a hauling tractor and to operatethe elevator to deliver material from the tractor to any other suitablecontainer.

The apparatus according to this invention comprises a platform which canbe mounted on the rear end of a vehicle and onto which the produce canbe deposited. A chute extends upwardly from the platform and has anendless conveyor mounted thereon so that any material deposited on theplatform will be carried up and deposited at the top of the chute. Inorder to make the device portable a chute has been arranged to be foldedwith respect to the rest of the elevator and means are provided to takeup the slack in the conveyor produced by the chute s0 that the same maybe folded or unfolded without the necessity of taking off the elevatorand it will be in condition for use at all times.

it is accordingly an object of this invention to provide an improvedfolding elevator.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an elevator forattachment to a vehicle.

It is a further object of this invention to pro- Vide a folding elevatorwith means for maintaining a conveyor portion tight at all times.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means forautomatically maintaining the tension on the conveyor of an elevator.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a vehicle mountedelevator which can be driven by a power take-off.

Other objects and many of the attendant ada vantages of this inventionwill be apparent from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the tractor drawn grain truck with theelevator attached in the carrying position;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of the truck of Figure 1 with the elevator incarrying position;

Figure 3 is a rear View showing the elevator in operating position;

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken substantially on theplane indicated by the line 4--4 of Figure 3 and showing the connectionof the elevator to the vehicle;

Figure 5 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the elevator inoperating position;

Figure 6 is a view similar to Figure 5 but showing the elevator incarrying position;

Figure '7 is an enlarged detail sectional View of the slack eliminator;

Figure 8 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken substantially on theplane indicated by the line 8 8 of Figure 'l and showing theconstruction of the slack eliminator;

Figure 9 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the planeindicated by the line 9-9 of Figure 3 'and showing the driving mechanismfor the elevator;

Figure 10 is an enlarged section taken substantially on the planeindicated by the line i-iil of Figure 2 and showing the carrying hookfor supporting the folded elevator on the truck;

Figure 1l is an enlarged cross-section showing the slack eliminatortaken substantially on the plane indicated by the line l l-i l of Figure7;

Figure 12 is an enlarged fragmentary plan View of a portion of theconveyor;

Figure 13 is an enlarged longitudinal section u through the drivingclutch taken substantially on the plane indicated by the line l3i3 ofFigure 3;

Figure 14 is an enlarged perspective of the slack control fulcrum;

Figure 15 is an enlarged perspective view of the slack control tines;and

Figure 16 is a horizontal section showing the support for the elevator.

In the exemplary embodiment of the invention a tractor iii is providedwith a drawbar i2 and a power take-off Id.. The hitch it of a truck I8is connected to the drawbar i2 and to the front axle 2@ of the truck I8.The front axle Ztl is supported on ground wheels 22 and is provided witha skein 24 on which is mounted a fifth wheel 26. A bolster 23 is mountedon the fifth wheel 26 and carries a truck body 36. A bearing sleeve 32is rigidly mounted in the bolster 28 and has a shaft 34 journaledtherein. A telescoping drive shaft 3% is connected between the shaft 3d'and the power take-od I4 by means of universal joints 38 and d. Therear end of the truck body 3B is mounted on an axle d2 by means ofstandards eli and Q6. The truck body Sii is preferably constructed ofconsiderably greater depth at the rear than the front so that it has asloping bottom 50.

A stub shaft 52 is journaled on a bracket 54 mounted on the rear of thebody 30 and has a driving connection to the shaft 34 by means of atelescoping shaft 56, the telescoping shaft 55 loeing connected betweenthe stub shaft t2 and the shaft 34 by means of universal joints 58 and60. A V-groove pulley 62 is mounted on the stub shaft 52. Rearwardlyextending arms 24 and t5 are mounted on the rear axle 42 and form asupport for rear bumper-like member 28 which extends across the rear ofthe vehicle and embraces the rear wheels thereof. The forward end of themember 68 is rigidly attached to the truck body 30 by means of braces 10land 12. Brace support ing brackets 14 and 'i5 are mounted on the member68 for a purpose presently to be described.

Truck body 3Q is provided with a rear door 8|) which slides in verticaltracks 82 and 84 to uncover a rear door 85 through which the contents ofthe body 3'! may be discharged for any suitable reason. A suitablesupport such as a chain 30 may be connected to any suitable fastenersuch as a hook 90 for maintaining the door 80 in adjusted relation overthe door opening 86.

Brackets 32 and 94 are connected to the rear side boards 96 of anelevator platform 9S. The platform 98 is connected to the bottom 5! ofthe truck body 30 by means of brackets |630. Front side board |02 of theplatform 08 is provided with a cut out opening |04 through which extendsan extension |03 of the bottom 50 so that any produce delivered throughthe opening 2t* will be delivered onto the platform 98.

The platform 98 is provided at one end thereof with an upwardly directedend portion Hii. A chute ||2 is pivotally connected to the end H3 bymeans of a hinge H4. The top end H5 of the chute ||2 is hingedlyconnected adjacent the central portion thereof by means of a hinge H8.

A sprocket shaft |20 is mounted at the free end of the platform 90 and asprocket shaft |22 is mounted at the free end of the chute H6. .Anendless conveyor including chains |24 and |26 are mounted in parallellongitudinal relation on the platform 98 and the attached chute.Elevator members |28 are secured between the chains |24 and |26 inspaced relation to move the produce over the platform Q3 and up thechute members ||2 and H6.

Side boards |30 and |32 are mounted on the chute section ||2 and extenddownwardly over the upturned ends of the platform 93 being mountedoutside of the side boards and |02. A stub roller |36 is mounted on ashaft |33 which is secured in the rear board 3S at the junction of thehorizontal platform 98 and the upturned end H0. Likewise the roller |40is mounted on a stub shaft |42 which is mounted on the front side board|02, likewise at the junction of the platform 98 and the upturned endH0. The rollers |35 and |40 overlie the chains |24 and |25 so that theconveyor is held tightly against the surface of the platform and theupturned end so that it cannot raise away therefrom.

Rollers |44 and |46 mounted in the side boards |32 and |30 immediatelyabove the chains H4 so that when the sections ||2 pivots about the hingei4 the conveyor chains are maintained in proximity to the surface of thechute section |2.

A conveyor tension control includes a pair 0f arms |50 and |52 mountedon a shaft |54 which is mounted between the side boards |30 and |32 at apoint above the hinge H4. The arms |50 and |52 extend longitudinallyalong the sides |30 and |32 to a point below the platform s where it isprovided with a cross roller |55 carrying sprocket wheels |52 and |60 tocontact the chains |24 and |26 of the conveyor for the purpose ofkeeping the tension of the conveyor substantially firm. The arms |50 and|52 engage fulcrums |52 which are substantially triangular memberssecured to the bottom side of the extension |Q and extend into the pathof the arms |50 and |52 so that by normal adjustment of the operatingposition of the chute t2 the arms will be biased by the fulcrums |52 andswing in an arc to maintain the tension on the conveyor.

The V-shaped fulcrums |02 are operative to take up the slack for smallangular motion of the chute H2, that is substantially unavailable totake up the slack when the chute is folded with respect to the platform3B. Arms |64 and |25 are mounted on the arms |50 and |52 and have theircross bar |28 which extends beyond the arms |64 and |66 to provide ears|72 for contacting of the bottom edge of the side boards |30 and |22 sothat when the chute is folded the arms |553 and |52 are maintained inextended position so that the roller |56 will constantly maintain thetension of the conveyor.

The top section of the chute IIB is provided with side boards and |82which are relatively narrower than the side boards |30 and |32 andessentially extend a short distance below the chute bottom HE. Dependingguide members |84 and |35 are suspended from the side members |80 and|82 respectively by means of arms |35 and |90. Guide members |84 and |85are pivoted on the side members |30 and |32 at a point a materialdistance below the hinge H8 so that when the chute is folded the guidemembers will be joined at a point below the overlapping portion of thefold. Stub rollers 200 are provided on the side members |32 and |32 andunderlie the chains |24 and |23 to maintain them in substantiallyconstant spaced relation to the chute bottom ||2 and |5 when the chuteis folded.

The side board |84 is provided with a plurality of hooks 202 whichengage the top of the rear of the truck body 30 to support the top plateof the elevator when in folded position. A bumper pad 204 is attached tothe rear of the truck body to support the intermediate plate of theelevator conveyor when the same is in folded position.

The conveyor is driven by means of a power connection to the sprocketwheel |28 which includes a belt 2|@ mounted on the pulley 62 and pulley2|2 on the extension shaft 2|4. Power is transmitted from the pulley 2|2to the shaft 2|4 by means of a clutch 2| which is keyed to the shaft 2|3so as to be non-rotative therewith. Clutch 2|6 is provided with aperipheral groove 2|3 in which is provided a control band 220 operatedby a control lever 224.

During transportation of the vehicle with or without a load the conveyorwill be folded against the pad 204 and the top plate supported by meansof the hooks 202 so that the conveyor will need no more room than thebody of the vehicle. When it is desired to unload the contents of thebody Sil the chute is unfolded and held in unfolded relation by means ofthe braces 232 mounted on the brackets 14 and i6 and are pivotallyconnected to the side boards |80 and |82. The arms 230 are constructedof two telescoping parts the lower part 232 being pivotedon the brackets'I4 and 16 while the upper parts 234 are pivoted on the side boards |80and 82. The upper part 234! is telescopically received in the lower part232. The outer part 232 carries a bracket 236 on which is mounted ashaft 23B carrying spur gears 25m in driving relation with rack 242 onthe member 234. The shaft 233 is operated by crank 2de to control theoverall length of the arms 23e to maintain the chute in any desiredangular position.

The chute may be operated at any desired inclination from about to 70.The ends of the arms i5!) pivoted to the chute swing about the hinge lHi by angular movement of the chute and pivot about the angular fulcrumE62 to control the slack in the chains 24 and 126.

The sections of the conveyor are of such length that when folded theentire conveyor is mounted within the cross section of the vehicle sothat the conveyor may pass through any opening or space through whichthe vehicle can pass. This is particularly useful in operating in narrowalleys or in buildings. The vehicle is maneuvered into unloadingposition after which the chute is unfolded into operative position. ByWay of example and not of limitation an elevator having a platform threefeet long and a chute having a bottom section six feet three inches longand a top section ve feet seven and one-half inches long has beenoperated with complete satisfaction. To remove the load and deliver itby the conveyor power is delivered by the power take-off lil through thevarious shafting to the pulley 2I2 and the power is transmitted to theroller I 2d by closing the clutch 21H5 so that the conveyor is drivenover the platform and the chute.

It will thus be seen that this invention provides an improved foldableconveyor which can be mounted on the rear of a vehicle and convenientlycarried therewith. The folded elevator requires substantially no extraspace on the vehicle so that it may operate anywhere the vehicle can goand may be used either in or out of a building so that any producecarried by the truck body 30 may be delivered in any suitable containerwherever found.

For the purpose of exemplification a particular embodiment of theinvention has been shown, and described according to the best presentunderstanding thereof, however, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art, that many changes and modifications can be made therein withoutdeparting from the true spirit of the invention.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A conveyor for mounting on a vehicle comprising a substantiallyhorizontal platform, an upwardly directed end portion on said platform,a chute hingedly connected to said end, said chute being hingedintermediate the ends thereof, an endless conveyor entrained on saidplatform and said chute, driving means operatively connected to saidconveyor, roller means mounted on said platform at the junction of saidend portion, roller means mounted on said chute adjacent the connectionwith said end, said roller means overlying said conveyor, side boards onthe intermediate section of said conveyor, said side boards enclosingsaid end portion on said platform, a pair of arms pivotally mounted onsaid side boards above the connection with said end portion, said arms'extending below said platform, conveyor engaging rollers mounted on saidarms, triangular fulcrums mounted on said end to control inward motionof said arms, ears on said arms adapted to engage the edge of said sideboards.

2. A folding elevator assembly comprising a lower normally horizontalsection, an upwardly directed end on said section, a chute hinged at thetop of said end, said chute being hinged adjacent the central portionthereof, an endless chain conveyor mounted on said platform and saidchute, sprocket wheels engaging the conveyor, means for driving thesprocket wheels at the end of the platform, rollers mounted on saidplatform and said chute for maintaining said conveyor in proximity tosaid platform and said chute, arms mounted on said chute above saidupwardly directed end, said arms extending below said platform, atriangular fulcrum mounted on said end, pivotal motion of said chuteabout said end causing swinging motion of said arms about said fulcrumto maintain tension in said conveyor.

3. A folding elevator assembly comprising a lower normally horizontalsection, an upwardly directed end on said section, a chute hinged at thetop of said end, said chute being hinged adjacent the central portionthereof, an endless chain conveyor mounted on said platform and saidchute, sprocket wheels engaging the conveyor, means for driving thesprocket wheels at the end of the platform, rollers mounted on saidplatform and said chute for maintaining said conveyor in proximity tosaid platform and said chute, arms mounted on said chute above saidupwardly directed end, said arms extending below said platform, atriangular fulcrum mounted on said end, pivotal motion of said chuteabout said end causing swinging motion of said arms about said fulcrumto maintain tension in said conveyor, ears on said arms engaging saidchute to take up the slack of said conveyor when said elevator isfolded.

4. A conveyor for mounting on a vehicle comprising a substantiallyhorizontal platform, an upwardly directed end portion on said platform,a chute hingedly connected to said end, said chute being hingedintermediate the ends thereof, an endless conveyor entrained on saidplatform and said chute, driving means operatively connected to saidconveyor, roller means mounted on said platform at the junction of saidend portion, roller means mounted on said chute adjacent the connectionwith said end, said roller means overlying said conveyor, side boards onthe intermediate section of said conveyor, said side boards enclosingsaid end portion on said platform, a pair of arms pivotally mounted onsaid side boards above the connection with said end portion, said armsextending below said platform, conveyor engaging rollers mounted on saidarms, triangular fulcrums mounted on said end to control inward motionof said arms, ears on said arms adapted to engage the edge of said sideboards, the sections of said chute being so proportioned that whenfolded the entire structure is mounted within the cross sectionaldimensions of the vehicle.

5. A folding elevator assembly comprising a lower normally horizontalsection, an upwardly directed end on said section, a chute hinged at thetop of said end, said chute being hinged adjacent the central portionthereof, an endless chain conveyor mounted on said platform 7 and saidchute, sprocket wheels engaging the conveyor, means for driving thesprocket wheels at the end of the platform, rollers mounted on saidplatform and said chute for maintaining said conveyor in proximity tosaid platform and said chute, arms mounted on said chute above saidupwardly directed end, said arms extending below said platform, atriangular fulcrum mounted on said end, pivotal motion of said chuteabout said end causing swinging motion of said arms about said fulcrumto maintain tension in said conveyor, ears on said arms engaging saidchute to take up the slack of said conveyor when said elevator isfolded, telescoping brace arms pivotally secured to said vehicle 15 andto the top section of said chute, means controlling the length of saidbrace arms to adjust the inclination of said chute.

RAYMOND D. FILSINGER. DEAN L. FILSINGER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 10Number Name Date 981,894 Spinney Jan. 17, 1911 1,074,182 Jorgenson Sept.30, 1913 1,090,670 Zimmerman Mar. 17, 1914 1,232,405 Stark July 3, 1917

